Today felt strangely calm and quiet.

Too fucking quiet.

I woke up without the screams and vibrations of my alarm, from the bed I jumped into the shower, and washed my hair with relief flowing through me as now I didn't have to spend hours attempting to straighten my hair, put emphasis on 'attempt'

I got out of the shower and got dressed in my usual unfashionable clothes, did my hair, had breakfast and prepared to leave. Before locking my door I glanced to my left where the new neighbours had stayed, something felt off because by now the music blasting would have started. Ignoring the minor detail I locked the door and rushed through the halls but not so far away I was greeted with a door covered in boxes.

Someone was moving out? Most people that lived here were college students - from my school.
Again ignoring the strange detail I began the long, and unbearable travel to hell.

Halfway to school, I stopped at Paul's café to get myself a hot americano with the small sugar packs to-go, as I took out my phone to look at the time my heart dropped realizing the only way to make it on time would be to jog, making my morning less enjoyable

 

 

I made it, I was at the school entrance with nothing but a door in my way. At this moment I put on my poker face and prepared for the experience I endured for the past few months, but it wasn't my choice to make so I took a deep breath and entered pushing the large doors open. My eyes widened at the sight of something I thought was possible only in my fantasy.

 They gazed at a member of the school's rugby team on the floor, red dripped from his nose complimented by a black eye, messed up hair and his jacket on the floor.

The halls were silent no one was there but me and them, I recognised the man looming over him, He wore the same gym as the previous night. He shifted his large figure toward me and still held the same glare he gave Devin.

I gulped.

Jared quickly stood and ran off while the next-door guy kept his eyes on me, our eyes locking and time froze, I was so distracted I didn't realize he was getting closer. The loud noise of the bell erupted through the halls, and within seconds the halls were crowded by students, I was overflooded with panic - breaking free of the trance I was under and rushed to my locker I took to put the necessary books for the next periods and left the piles of unstapled assignments in there. I diverted my attention to the schedule in my hand,' Of course, English is next' I grunted, rushing through the halls I found my class and entered it.

Like always as I entered I got odd looks however, this time they weren't looking at my face

'Is it my hair?' I thought

"Ah, Miss Jones late again, you know the drill." Mr Oscar spoke with a tone of annoyance in his voice," It's Mr Jones, I'll see you Friday afternoon." I corrected the old tyrant and walked to the back where my seat was.

I always sat in the back of the class, for three reasons, the first reason is tragically obvious, the second one was social anxiety and the final one is no one likes me, and when I say no one I mean no one. When the bullying started everyone avoided me like I was infected with the plague.

No, I was the plague.

They forced me to pick my class seats first so they could seat further away except the jocks who basically surrounded me in every class I share with them.

"We have two new mistakes joining you all, so for fucks sake behave," Mr Oscar instructed with his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose, he turned to the door and nodded. Moments later two large hunks walked into the classroom. "Introduce yourselves," the teacher instructed,

"I'm Victor Jones, I know I look intimidating and all but I promise I won't hurt you unless you deserve it"
The tattooed guy greeted.

"And I'm Zack Jones unlike my idiotic brother I will hurt you if you annoy me," the other guy spoke.

I physically cringed at their failed attempts in intimidating the class, but the whole class including me felt somewhat relieved, "Okay, go take your seats next to Miss- sorry Mr Jones." He spat out in irritation and disrespect but a grin painted itself across my face, it felt satisfying irritating people on something that doesn't affect them at all.

Both Victor and Zack stared at each other and back at the wrinkled hag in confusion as to what he meant. I made a face at the fact we all had the same last name, my last name is 'Jones' and, having memorised my family tree - not by choice. I'm sure, we're not related.

"Oh, right, Mr Jones please stand," Mr Oscar called out, just as I stood their eyes immediately fell on me, guessing by their expressions they recognized me. They started walking toward me and sat in their assigned seats. I sighed as the whispers began

'Poor guy, he's always caught in the middle of trouble'

'I feel so bad for her,'

'I wish I were her-'

'That's a he..right'

Their whispers crowded the room and it annoyed me when they gave sympathetic comments because they do nothing to actually help me. Ignoring everyone I wrote the notes that were written by the teacher, soon the bell rung and the 3rd was next, slowly I packed my stuff, "Oi Aubrey I need you to stay, " Everyone except Victor, Zack and I had left,

Mr Oscar then instructed me to guide over the Jones Brothers for a week or two, I wanted to decline and even listed smarter and less troubled students but I had no say in the matter. Zack and Victor left to stand outside the door waiting for me, just as I was about to leave I turned to Mr Oscar,

"Oh by the way sir," I started "Hm" he responded uninterested,
"Next time you can just call me Flyn-" He interrupted,
"I'd rather have my hands stapled together," he replied spitting out every word, I smiled " I can arrange that," I spoke. He rolled his eyes and I left.

"What was that about?" Zack inquired.

"What classes do you have now?" I asked avoiding the previous question, "I've got calculus," Victor voiced.

"He and I have the same schedule." Zack replied, "Right, now I have my primary subject - psychology, I'll take you to math and we'll meet up at the vending machine nearby," they both nodded and so the most awkward journey began as silence devoured us in seconds.

Students still flooded the halls, they chatted while they made their way to class, the noise flowing through one ear and flowing out the other like mindless gibberish, I never bothered with their conversations because they primarily consisted of sports or the beasts that constantly haunted me when I was alone in the halls or late to class.

As we walked to class we passed the vending machine, "This is the one I was talking about," I said as we continued.

We reached the class but just before they entered Zack gave me a wink, Victor just gave a thumbs up and I returned it, as I was about to leave I heard the math teacher instruct three other students to help Victor and Zack,

'I have to socialize now?' I walked to a locker and smashed my head against it, hoping I heard that wrong but I never woke up, the noise from the locker attracted attention, and I rushed to my next period.

 

As I left class I felt traumatized by how exposing this major can get I can never understand why they would dedicate an entire lesson to human behaviour when the final conclusion is 'the human mind is too complex for our full understanding'.  I shrugged off the frustration of the vague answer and walked to the vending machine.

I saw Victor leaning against the wall sipping on a can of what looked like coke, "Hey, where's Zack?" I asked looking around for the male. "He's at the cafeteria with the others." He replied and crushed the can he held before throwing it on the floor. "Shall we?" He asked awaiting a response, "yes we shall," I answered with a slight smile, he walked ahead of me and I picked up the can throwing it in the bin that was a mere 10cm beside him.

"Why didn't you go with Zack?" I asked catching up from behind as we began the long walk to the cafeteria. "Well I can't just leave you, can I?" He spoke out which spread an unwanted smile across my face, "And what's with the smile?" He interrogated. I quickly turned my face away," Nothing," I fixed my face and lowered my head, He mumbled something under his breath, a word rather than a whole sentence.

"Hm?"
"Nothing" Victor answered almost immediately.
"Nonono, that's my thing, tell me," I pushed. "Not unless you tell me why you smiled," he pushed back slightly with a smirk, "I just smile, I have no reason." 
"Mhm, sure," I rolled my eyes at his doubtful tone. "I told you now you tell me,"

He opened his mouth, "I forgot," he laughed as I playfully punched him, "No fucking fair!"

 

We arrived at the cafeteria and we spotted Zack with two guys and a girl sitting beside each other. They seemed to be arguing about something as we got closer the cafeteria got quieter with their eyes watching over us. Arriving at the table we sat and were immediately bombarded with weird questions like," What's your favourite shark species?" And so on. The conversation died down to something less intense. By that I mean the conversation shifted to an argument on which pizza topping was the best which turned into a 'pineapple on pizza' debate.

" Flynn, tell her she's insane!" The blonde male raised his voice. "Flynn, tell them their insane," The brunette-haired girl yelled,

"Them? Excuse you, where the fuck do I fit into this!" the second brunette yelled back at her. The commotion attracted attention, something no one in this group wanted but sadly got. Victor and Zack seemed unbothered, carelessly enjoying their food.

 

School came to an end and students rushed to go home while others rushed to their extra murals. I walked around the school showing Victor and Zack the assembly halls and the sports field, as I had covered almost all the school grounds we arrived at the volleyball court. As we passed the court a gentle nudge from Zack stopped me from my rambling, he faced the far side of the court to an old man waving us over,

Someone I had been avoiding for the past 6 months

"Hi, coach."

"Finally coming back to the team fin?"  He asked completely ignoring the greeting.

"It's Flynn, and no," I mumbled in correction "You played volleyball?" Zack asked raising a brow.
My mouth dried unable to form a sentence. "Yes he did, and he was one of the best players I had," He lied. "I was mediocre at best...but thank you," My eyes fell on the exit sign behind him, signalling for him to excuse us.

He looked behind and back at us, he nodded and gestured to the boys behind me, "Maybe you two will join, how 'bout it boys?" He winked but the two gave light smiles and shook their heads, "Sorry sir, I'm more of a track racer," Zack gestured to his brother. "But he might be the perfect man for you," Victor smiled but stomped on Zack's foot causing the other male to grunt through his faked smile. "Would love to take the offer but with my body, I would barely be able to leap off of the ground," he excused himself.

The three of us felt very uncomfortable, and the awkward silence that had been looming over us did not help in the slightest, Not soon after the wind began blowing mercilessly, shaking the outside of the building.

'Shit'

"That's our sign to leave," I tugged the other two and we rushed out to the exit, my eyes glanced over the sky seeing the once-blue atmosphere now grey and dull.

"Sorry guys, I'll have to cut this tour short," I announced. To my surprise, they seemed displeased by my statement, but I wasn't certain as their expressions gave no evidence of that.

Zack sighed, "Need a ride?" I heard his words as they were, but his facial expression told a different story. I turned to Victor who scolded Zack on the head and asked the same query just uniquely.

But as charming as it was I declined the offer. "I have a few things to get from my locker, I'll be awhile. So you can go without me," I excused myself it wasn't the whole truth but not a full lie either. I truly did have something to retrieve, but it hadn't been so important that I had to decline, I just felt it would be better to not take chances with more sport hunks.

"It's cool, see ya." They both waved jogging to their car while the rain began pouring more violently, smashing against their heads. The little drops multiplied into armies of tiny soldiers marching along the grounds, sweeping away everything in its path; but the boys stood strong, not losing momentum.

I walked along the hall, avoiding several students whom I assumed were from one of the school's many unnecessary murals, on my way to my locker.

I heard whispers echoing freely through the halls, it was nothing new just the same old, "She thinks she can live like a real guy," and "What a delusional bitch," "Weirdo,"

'The usual slurs

At this point in time I had already gotten used to the insults, they hadn't affected me since my freshmen years. Same old people, same old insults. Same. Old. Results. I just didn't care enough, just like the teachers, all except one, but I wouldn't bring him into this. No, he's been through enough.

Ignoring everyone's gaze, I made my way to the exit. The rain crashed into the ground as violently as ever, 'it's a lot worse than I remember' I said to myself, the cold breeze invited the colder water drops to land on my shivering body. I sighed and began regretting not taking Zack's offer. 'Dumbass' I insulted myself and ran through the rain getting wetter and colder by the second.

 

Barging in the café earned me some strange looks, but considering barely anyone glanced over towards me, this was a very common occurrence. "Um, Sir, In order to stay in our safe and warm establishment you need to order on the menu," she spoke exaggerating her extremely obvious fake smile.

By the look on her face, she was about to blow her top off, irritated by the number of people barging in, one last time just as I moved to find a seat someone else barged in earning a death glare from the lady but got ignored. Gaining the attention of the entire store, I turned to see a giant wet man in an all-black raincoat with a scarf wrapped tightly around his lower facials.

'Real life dark Vadar,' I commented under my breath

he took off the hood of his coat, revealing his wet black hair and walked to the cashier, ignoring the stares and glare from one of the café ladies. The throbbing vein on his head told me he was in no mood to wait, so I let him pass me. Removing the scarf that wrapped dangerously around his face he spoke out his order in more of a whisper, the cashier hesitantly typed in the order with distress and confusion. 

He finished ordering and walked to the very corner of the room, now it was my turn. Feeling anxious and clueless I gave a very awkward "Hi," the cashier just giggled at my pathetic attempt at a greeting. I gulped and looked at the menu "I'll just have the um, the Irish?" I said picking a random coffee, she nodded and typed in the order, out came a slip, and she handed it to me.

I sat at an empty table near the door and took out my phone and switched it on, feeling the wet screen I sighed in regret, I felt eyes lasering through my chest but ignored them

It wouldn't be the only time I felt stares but this one felt so close. "Hi..." my eyes wandered off the screen and began climbing what looked like a mountain before reaching bright brown or dare I say amber eyes. It was the large guy from earlier, he stood awkwardly waiting for my response.

"Hey, uh c-can I help you? " I stuttered, I suppressed all urges to stomp on my own feet in disappointment at how horribly the sentence came out. He chuckled lightly, and fuck what a chuckle it was, my heart fluttered at how gentle it sounded. It was just a chuckle but it was really easy to tell he wasn't from around here, it was flavoured with a strange accent. "I've seen ye from around campus and I wanted to say 'hi'," he spoke softly his accent interfering with his words. "Are you new?" I asked curiously and fixed my posture, "No actually, I'm a returning student, I left overseas temporarily. Why do ye ask?" 

"Ah, It's just I haven't seen or heard anyone speak in such a way," He gave another soft chuckle. "Glad to know I'm the first Scottish man you've spoken to. May I sit?" he asked pulling the chair.

"Yes, of course."

Time flashed by quickly as the clouds continued to cry leaving the rain to stain the grounds, flooding the streets and forcing more people to crowd the cafe, about twelve others gathered the courage to leave but were shot by the bullet-like droplets. The man in front of me shared stories about his life overseas, made jokes and got me on my fourth cup of coffee, mesmerised by his accent and the way each word came out different from the one before, the way he used phrases and the way he used clear English words when he realised I didn't understand the hypnotising gibberish that past through one ear and came out the next.

"Have you been to South Africa?" I asked he looked at me almost shocked. "Feck yeh I have," he said before a worker came again for our orders, he stopped her with a light smile and turned to me, "That's enugh coffee for ye, ain't it lad?" He raised his brow as his fingers caressed the light moustache just below his nose. I nodded only registering the three other cups on top of the table, "I'll take the bill," he spoke to her earning a strange look from me.

"I'll pay, don't worry." I reached into my bag but was stopped a by gloved hand. "Bullshite, I can handle the bill," 
The worker came past with a thin black long book with a leather cover and placed it down on the table, he grabbed it and placed his card inside. "I'll be right back mate," he stood from his seat and walked to the bathroom. I took this opportunity to swap the cards and slid his back into his crimson bag. I handed her the book back and gave her a tip.

Moments later he came back, took the card and we walked to the door, upon opening it, the harsh windows forced droplets to crash into my skin. As fabric touched the skin of my neck it caused me to flinch, "Relax, it's me. Take this." he wrapped it around my neck, before zipping his coat on. "Why? Don't you need it?" I inquired watching the male enter the storm.

"Nah, I've got a ride and knowin' yer stubborn I don't gotta ask. So take it and bring it to me tomorrow, we shar a class don' we?"

I nodded unsure if we really did have shared classes. He waved off into a bright white Ford truck and I watched as he disappeared into the fogged storm.

'Time to go home I guess,'